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Cross your Fingers!!!

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  • #1

    Cross your Fingers!!!

    Well, gang, I sit here in a random hotel, in a random city, somewhere in Texas (always Texas...) waiting to go home.

    I am supposed to be leaving for Italy for my friend's wedding on THURSDAY from DULLES. Which, as many of you who watch the Weather Channel will realize, is in the exact path of Isabel, at the time I'm supposed to be flying out.

    So, please cross you fingers, say a prayer, sacrifice a virgin (should you know any...) so that I will get out, on time, and be there as my bestest friend gets married in Florence. I have to be there by 4pm on Saturday- so....

    Jenn
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  • #2
    Good luck, I will do a rain/hurricane delay dance just for you.

    You are going to have such a great time. Do you feel the envious vibe I am typing?!

    Have a fun and safe trip!

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    • #3
      Well, I was trapped watching the 700 Club today (at the gym -- it comes on our NBC station right after the Today Show --- only in Texas!) and Pat Robertson, along with his studio audience, prayed fervently that the storm would turn, so they are on your side.

      Seriously, you have my prayers and good wishes (and envy!) as well.

      Sally
      Wife of an OB/Gyn, mom to three boys, middle school choir teacher.

      "I don't know when Dad will be home."

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      • #4
        I'm hoping right along with everyone else that you get to go! That would be such a bummer to miss your friend's wedding and the opportunity go go abroad!!! Good luck!
        Awake is the new sleep!

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        • #5
          Jennifer,

          I hope that you are safely in Italy (jealous, jealous, jealous) and that the wedding was a success! You better be taking lots and lots of pictures to share

          kris
          ~Mom of 5, married to an ID doc
          ~A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

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          • #6
            Well-

            It made for an extra long day, but we made it to Italy on Friday-

            United called at 6am Thursday to notify us that our flight was cancelled. So, I called United but they couldn't do anything for me because I bought the tickets on Expedia and they issued them on Lufthansa (code shares with United). So then I called Lufthansa and spoke to some idiot named Bruno who couldn't grasp that I knew that the airports were closed in DC (despite that while I was on the phone with Bruno I watched planes take off from National!) and he also couldn't grasp that I wanted to drive to another airport to get out. So, I called the Expedia VIP number (it does pay to travel a lot, sometimes) spoke to a lovely young lady who arranged for us to fly on Thursday out of Philadelphia to Frankfurt to Munich to Florence which killed our whole day. (I rented a car at Natinal Airport and we drove to Philly as the trains were booked and the planes were jammed packed- the few that were still flying) We got there in time for cocktails on the terrace of the hotel where everyone was staying (except us and two other couples who were slightly too poor for $260 a night!)

            The wedding was great- it took place in a room in what is now their city hall, but was once a palace of the Medici family. The whole service took about 25 minutes and most of that was for translations. Chuck, the best man and I sat in gold and red velvet thrones to the left of Leslie and Brian and our entire part of the ceremony was to answer "yes" when we were asked if we had witnessed them take their vows. The magistrate who did the service was clearly a man who enjoyed his job.

            We then went back to the hotel and changed in to comfy clothes for a while, sipping proseco on the roof, again (it became a theme!). We then changed back in to our pretties and went to a great restaurant for a fabulous 5 course meal.

            The only downer was that Leslie's dad couldn't get out thanks to Isabel. He could have probably gotten out via Philly or NYC but he was recently diagnosed with mid-stage Parkinson's and no wanted him to try and be a hero. Brian's mom and step-dad couldn't make it because the step-dad is really sick. But at the end of the evening, Brian made a nice toast to everyone who couldn't be at the wedding, for whatever reason.

            We had a great time in Florence, spent a lot of time eating and sleeping which was our intention from the start! The city is lovely and the people are generally pretty nice. The waiters are jerks but so are the waiters in DC. We bought gorgeous leather jackets (well, mine is a coat that's reversable from suede to leather) and that was our big splurge. I justified it because my lighterweight winter coat I bought 10 years ago for 15 dollars at the Eddie Bauer outlet. My friends and family HATE that coat!

            The food was amazing- I don't think we had a bad meal. The coffee is utterly addicting. The morning java today was quite the disappointment. We also took a tour of a small village and a castle in Chianti. The family that owns the castle also produced wine and olive oil so we brought some back to enjoy later.

            All and all it was fabulous. We were glad to get home and unfortunately Rick is on-call today. (Who is stupid enough to put someone just getting pack from a week overseas on-call the very next day? The Army...)

            I'll post pictures asap!

            Jenn

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            • #7
              That sounds wonderful! Wow.

              And I think you're totally justified in buying the new coat--10 years is a long time for a coat.

              I'm curious about the "destination wedding" aspect of it, too. How many guests did they get to make the trip? Were people happy to do it, or did they face some grumbling about the cost? (Actually I guess no matter what you plan, some people will complain, but was it a lot?) How far in advance did they warn people? It's a very intriguing idea, the destination wedding.

              It sounds like you guys had a wonderful trip--that's great!
              Married to a hematopathologist seven years out of training.
              Raising three girls, 11, 9, and 2.

              “That was the thing about the world: it wasn't that things were harder than you thought they were going to be, it was that they were hard in ways that you didn't expect.”
              ― Lev Grossman, The Magician King

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              • #8
                Julie-

                The wedding was planned for them by a company who specializes in Italy-I can't remember the name at the moment though. (if you're interested, I'll look it up!)

                Leslie and Brian only requested that two of us come- me (and Rick) and their friend Chick (who lives in Austria and was able to take the train down with his wife and kids). Everyone else just kind of jumped on the bandwagon. Any excuse to get to Italy! I think there were 15 of us and people took a number of different routes to get to the wedding. One woman took a Mediterranean cruise and then took the train to Florence, a few did the Venice, Florence, Rome jaunt, one couple flew in to Milan, drove to Florence and then on to Rome, one girl scheduled a week long Tuscan cooking class after the wedding, and Rick and I just based ourselves in Florence and got to relax and know the city. No one grumbled because no one was really expected to come- it was bonus guests! Leslie's dad paid for her brother and sister-in-law to go so that was great for them.

                I think if the mindset of the couple is that they're getting married and whoever wants to come is more than welcome, as opposed to the "we're getting married here and you HAVE to come" can make all the difference. And also, both sets of parents have their own issues that they're dealing with, so that made it somewhat less of a big deal. If Leslies mom were alive, she would have thought it was great, too and that made it easier for Les in the early stages of planning.

                It's also a lot cheaper to get to Europe from DC than to other possible destination wedding sites, like Hawaii.

                Jenn

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                • #9
                  Aha. It's almost like "we're eloping and you can come if you want." That's cool--especially with a complicated family situation.

                  Weddings are fun to think about in the abstract/fantasy way. Any time I think in a concrete/real-world way about planning a wedding, however, it makes my head hurt and then I want to stop thinking about it. I like hearing about how other people's weddings worked out well for them, though.
                  Married to a hematopathologist seven years out of training.
                  Raising three girls, 11, 9, and 2.

                  “That was the thing about the world: it wasn't that things were harder than you thought they were going to be, it was that they were hard in ways that you didn't expect.”
                  ― Lev Grossman, The Magician King

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Jennifer,

                    This trip sounds FANTASTIC! I'm so glad that you had a great time. I will try to restrain my jealousy...but oh, girl, I was with you there in spirit.

                    Kelly
                    In my dreams I run with the Kenyans.

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